The chosen mates

*Emily's POV I am lying in my bed. It is early, but I don't have the energy to actually stand up and get out of my room. This is a really hard day for me. For the whole pack... A few years ago, many pack members died due to a battle with rogues. In that battle, I lost Jason, my mate, the gift from the Moon Goddess. I thought I would die that day, something ripped inside of me. We didn't get the chance to mate and mark each other. We didn't get the chance to spend our life together. Since that day, my life hasn't been the same. "Emily..." someone knocks on my door. "Come on, we have to go to training." Yes, it is Thomas, my brother. "I don't want to, Tom, please leave me alone," I say to him. “Please, I don’t want to do anything.” He doesn't know where to stop. "I'm not leaving you, not today, Emi. Don't be stupid, you need to get out of bed…" he says walking into my room, without any permission. “You can’t stay here all day, it’s for your good.” He grabs my arm and pulls me out of the bed. I know I don’t have much choice in this situation. I get up and go to change. At least he was right about something, I can’t stay here, I’ll probably die. I go to the bathroom and look at myself in the mirror, the familiar face of sadness is there, not that I do something different to change it. I wash my teeth and my face, that actually makes me feel better. I put my hair up in a ponytail, I don’t have the energy to think about anything else, but who cares anyways. I settle for a pair of black leggings and a gray top and go to meet Tom outside my room. “See, you already look much better…” he says and stand up from my bed, he already made my bed, he is a great brother. “I would rather see your hair braided like you used to, but the pony would do it.” He says and kisses my forehead. “I love you, Emi.” He is the best brother in the world, he has never left me alone through these years. We walk through the pack house and go to my dad’s office, my mom is with him, she is always with him. They are such a lovely couple, but they can be so intense sometimes. “Great to see you together,” my father says to us and motions us to sit in the chairs in front of him, next to my mom. “We need to talk…” This can’t be good. We are the Alpha family from Red Valley Pack, we are an average pack, not too big but enough to have some kind of awareness. Thomas has a mate, Mia, she’s great, I love her. My brother and Mia will take over the pack when he turns 23, in four months. I, clearly, don’t have a mate as Jason died three years ago, it was devastating. But honestly, I don’t want one anymore, second chances are really rare, and I don’t want to ever be in a position of weakness anymore. “Good morning, dad…” I say kissing his cheek. “Hello, mommy,” I say grabbing my mom’s hand. We are a pretty cute family. Modesty apart, we are very good-looking. “What is it, dad?” I ask him. “Well, you know I have very important and good news…” he smiles widely. “Our pack has been selected to host the biannual reunion of packs, isn’t it exciting?” I look at Thomas and he is holding back a laugh. We hate this kind of thing, a lot of other Alpha families are so hypocritical and mundane, but my dad is a huge fan of this event. “Wow…” Tom says he is looking for what to say. “That is… um… great dad.” He finally says. “I know, darling… a lot of people will be here and maybe our baby girl can find her second chance,” my mom says, Thomas scoffs and grabs my hand. “Please, mom, don’t start.” I plead and she nods. At least she understands this is a very difficult day for me. “I know you guys don’t like these events, but it’s important for the pack to have this kind of consideration into the territory. The reunion will be in one month from today, it is going to be the whole weekend, where we will have different reunions, the main event is the formal ball.” He explains to us. I gag at the event and Tom is laughing at me. He knows I hate this, my parents always think this is some kind of mating frenzy for me. I don’t want a mate, I don’t know who many times I have to tell them. My dad talks some more about all the Alphas and Lunas coming, I recognize them all. I have met almost all of them. My dad gets a call, and he stands up a moment. My mom and Tom keep talking about the preparations for the reunion. “Emi, honey. You’ll help Mia with everything…” my mom says. I roll my eyes at her, which wins a smirk from Tom. But an angry look from my mom. A couple of minutes later, my dad comes back to the office with the biggest smile I have ever seen on his face. “Well, we will have a very special guest this time. Alpha Blake Allen is coming to the reunion. This is much better than I thought.” He says smiling. My mom does it too. Who is this guy… “Who is Alpha Blake, if I may ask?” I ask and they all look at me like I’m a freak or something. “Sweety, he’s the Alpha of Silverstone pack. He received the pack three years ago. And had made a wonderful job with it. Silverstone is now the most powerful in the region, which makes him the most powerful alpha. But he never attends these events.” My dad explains to me. “No wonder why…” I say laughing, my mom sends me the look and I shut up. “Well, knowing this information, we want everything to be PERFECT. We will be under the eyes of everyone, and this is important, please.” My dad says to Tom and me. Tom and I exit my dad’s office and walk together to the training field. I’m not a warrior, but I was one of the leaders of training, especially running. I started running with Jason when we first met. He moved into our pack with his parents, he came from England and his parents wanted something different with their lives. They contacted my parents and asked them to be part of our pack, and they happily agreed. We met and became the best of friends, obviously, we liked each other. We started running because I wanted to do something different with our training. Training is the best part of my days, it’s the only time I’m capable of distracting my mind and being happy again. *Blake’s POV This is exhausting. Can you please get your sh*t together and grow the f*ck up? - Luke is mad at me once again. Not that he does anything different. Since Allyson rejected us, he is restless. We are constantly fighting over stupid things and we spend days without talking. I don’t know what you want me to do, believe me, there’s nothing I would like more than take this f*cking pain away from US – I replied. He wants me to go to that stupid event like we are going to get another mate. We are not getting one, even if the Moon Goddess mates us with another she-wolf, I don’t want anything to do with anyone anymore. The pack is the only thing I care about. Just think about it… It isn’t just about the mate thing, we don’t do anything fun, Blake, for God's sake – he has a fair point there. I’m always working. But I hate those events… I get a link from my dad telling me that he wants to meet with me and my mom at my office. I always find these kinds of reunions a little odd, but he’s my dad and I respect him more than anything. I don’t care if I’m the Alpha, he will always be my dad. I walk to my office, saying hello to everyone. I might look scary, but I’m not. I think I’m a very approachable alpha. I always give space to my people to talk whenever they need to. “Hello, mom and dad.” I said, kissing my mom on the forehead. “Sweety, you didn’t shower… You smell like a horse,” my mom says. She is always this cute. “I didn’t have time, mom. I finished training and came here after getting dad’s link.” I explain myself, not that I need to. “Okay, we are not here to discuss this. Blake, why aren’t you attending the biannual reunion of packs?” my dad asks immediately, I must suppose this was the issue. “Dad, you know why. I hate those events. It’s like a mating festival, everyone is there to find a mate, and as you already know I don’t want one. They barely discuss important things” I firmly say. My mom starts sobbing, this is a very difficult topic for her. But this needs to be addressed clearly. I DON’T WANT A MATE. “Son, this is important. You need to go. I know you don’t care about your mate or whatever, but these kinds of events are important. The people need to recognize you as the most powerful alpha… Please, reconsider it.” My dad asks. He is not wrong. I never leave the pack, just a few people know me and it’s because I have business with them. “We are the most powerful pack, son. It’s because of you, of course. But we can’t be seen as the pack or the Alpha family who don’t interact with anyone. Doesn’t matter how powerful we are, if we don’t have allies, nothing matters.” He explains. Again, a fair point is made by my father. “You have a fair point, dad. I’ll reconsider it. But if I say yes, you have to go with me, I hate going to those events alone.” “Of course, honey. We will go with you,” my mom says. She’s fan of those reunions. “Baby, please don’t be so reluctant about finding your second chance mate…” she almost whispers. “Mom, please. Don’t start.” I ask and she nods sadly. “I love you. But, mom, I couldn’t stand something like that happening to me again. Please, understand.” I try to comfort her, but it doesn’t help much. She nods again and they left my office. Why are mates so f*cking important? I have managed perfectly without one, and I’m better without one… Start of flashback  “I, Allyson Page from Silverstone, hereby reject you as my mate and Alpha, Blake Allen.” Those words shattered my world, my heart. I felt like my body was so weak. “What, Allyson?” I muttered. “What are you talking about… You can’t do this to me, to us, to our pack…” My whole world was ending. I could hear Luke in the back of my mind howling in pain. It felt too intense, I thought I would faint. “Don’t start Blake. You’re nothing, your pack is nothing. I don’t want anything to do with it,” she kept repeating. End of flashback That was three years ago… I had a mate, Allyson. A girl who showed me that love isn’t real, that the mate bond is nothing important if you don’t have real and good feelings. I don’t want a mate anymore, not after what she did to me. She rejected me and left with my cousin Spencer. At that time, he had a much bigger pack than mine. That’s why I started working hard on my pack and it became the most powerful. I haven’t heard from Allyson since that day. Thank Goddess. You know… I don’t buy you that bullsh*t that you don’t want a mate. Do you forget we share dreams, thoughts, and feelings? Even if we are two different minds… - Luke says to me. He is always saying things like this, and it confuses me. I am dead sure I don’t want a mate. Or do I? Cut it… I couldn’t stand that pain again. Do you forget how much it took us to recover? – I ask him back. But you have a point about that reunion. So, I think we will be going, but behave – He cheers in the back of my mind and starts pacing around wagging his tail like a little puppy. I pick up the phone and call Alpha William from Red Valley, the pack where they are holding the reunion this year.